ROADBURN FESTIVAL 2025 • THE SPARK: Wednesday, April 16th

- Rodents in thy Holy Place -

feat. RATTENBURCHT, TEMPLE FANG and THOU 

Seriously, dude? Wednesday morning, only a few minutes after the start of my annual pilgrimage to the south of the Netherlands, I suddenly had a car which was antisocially overtaking from the next village, first close in front, then luckily next to me. Since I just wanted to fill up anyway I had a moment to come down from the shock of the near-crash and approached the rest of the trip pretty relaxed. After all, the day - the whole weekend - could only get better from now on.

Fast forward to the evening - I had already checked in at a familiar place from previous visits comfortable fifteen minutes from my regular parking zone - I was alive and well and ready to lit The Spark, the entry-free pre-show on tzhe samller Next Stage of the 013 venue before four full days of breathtaking musical exploration of the kind only the Roadburn Festival provides.

If you're new to my Roadburn coverage and hopefully intend to also read the naturally much longer write-ups which will follow in the coming weeks, this is what you'll get: Proper reviews of all shows I watched long enough to confidently form an opinion, hopefully not too much useless banter before and in between, a couple of phone shots (probably most of the square title pictures), a lot of quirky live photography with my Digital Harinezumi 2.0 toy camera, and to give you a glimpse of the festival's ridiculous abundance of great options the occasional category CLASHBURN.

Even on this day zero one could actually open that box, since there already was a "raw, edgy" Jazz night in a café as part as the growing Offroad side programme in locations all over the city, which was also accessible without a ticket. However I kept it simple and just stayed for the traditional three performances on site.

Speaking of traditions: Temple Fang have become Spark regulars, already playing their third show (one time they saved the day on short notice after another band's cancellation) on the pre-opening night. Besides that I have also seen them play a Saturday Roadburn show, lead their own festival in Nijmegen and be the highlight of last year's Lazy Bones Festival in Hamburg. So I'm of course sick and tired of their long-form proggy Psychedelic Hard Rock, right?

Ha, no way! This quartet is just too freaking amazing, Their tasteful musicianship, the dynamic interplay between epic guitars and restless drumming, the long buildups and surprising transitions... it all adds together to a huge live experience so perfectly. Having Temple Fang start the proceedings with music from their new album "Lifted From The Winds" couldn't have been a better decision for me.

Definitely a better decision than me pre-ordering the album (it hasn't arrived yet), when I also could have bought it right here at the merch table.

A certainly brave choice was to followup  this level of high-class musical storytelling with one of the most primitive things I've ever seen at Roadburn.

There isn't really much to say about the Dutch trio Rattenburcht beyond Black Metal appearantly being not primal enough for them, so they just play it with intentionally hamfisted tools of Crust Punk. Maybe there was a hint of venomous Metal in there too, but one thing is for sure: Everything kind of sounded the same - and the band absolutely wants it that way.

The overall dose was almost too much for the shtick and only barely didn't overstay its welcome. The recognizable DIY look added to the Blackened Punk charme. The bassist, whose hilarious shrill shrieks are a main characteristic feature of Rattenburcht, gave the stage crew a little bit extra to tidy up, when she threw down herself and a candelabra with unlit candles. Was it just a fun exit (probably) or was she angry, because they weren't allowed to lit them for safety reasons?

[Please keep this rather insignificant question in mind until my review of day four, when I will return to the subject in a neat little full circle!] 

Given how much Thou from Louisana have become an almost integral part of Roadburn and the source of memes and running gags with countless regular, collaborative and most famously secret shows, it's pretty remarkable, that this was only my first longer encounter with this collective after their show with Emma Ruth Rundle in 2019. It just very rarely happens that my plan allows a spontanous diversion for one of the many secret shows, which in this year would all take place in the Ladybird Skatepark.

It's a shame, because damn, Thou actually are a very impressive force of satisfyingly gnarly Sludge Metal with nice layers of beauty hidden in the oppressive weight of their massive guitar riffs. Their sound was monstrous. The show levelled the place - which was of course packed, including many familiar faces of the Roadburn first row club  - and left the crowd happy with properly stretched and warmed up ears for the Redefining Heaviness extravaganza marathon laying ahead.

reviews of the other festival days:

ROADBURN FESTIVAL 2025 • DAY ONE: Thursday, April 17th

- Isn't it funny how the Body Machine burns? -

ROADBURN FESTIVAL 2025 • DAY TWO: Friday, April 18th

- Please stay close to me now
Weave the orb, Spin the dress
Don't you ever leave
me undead undead anymore -

ROADBURN FESTIVAL 2025 • DAY THREE: Saturday, April 19th

- Why Club Japan -

ROADBURN FESTIVAL 2025 • DAY FOUR: Sunday, April 20th

- Diabolical Spite & Divine Healing -

MUSIC 2021: TOP 7 non-album releases

Here are my favorite releases, which you cannot consider albums. This includes EPs, 7" records and compilations.
I've also only chosen releases which I own in physical format, so some great stuff is missing! Most worth mentioning among those is one of the finest EPs of this year, "K69996ROMA:EP" by Nick Hudson, but also Murderbait's goth rock highlight "When The Sun Goes Down, It Goes Down Forever". My favorite releases, which are - as of now - exclusively available in digital form are Lingua Ignota's "Agnus Dei" and one of the very best songs of the year, "Anhedonia" by Chelsea Wolfe feat. Emma Ruth Rundle.

I've already covered live albums in a previous MUSIC 2021 post.

So now that we've got all that out of the way, here are my...

TOP 7 NON-ALBUM MUSIC RELEASES 2021:

1. DEAD NEANDERTHALS - Rat Licker
   
   
   
   No year is complete without at least one brain-demolishing release from the Dutch Neanderthals. On their 7" EP - which you could arguably call a time lapse album - "Rat Licker", Otto and René go back to their own beginnings as well as the roots of the jazz grind genre and smash through an insane bunch of twelve sax and drums only bangers, of which only two even exceed the one minute mark. Pure fun!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. EMMA RUTH RUNDLE & THOU - The Helm Of Sorrow
   
   
   
   Heavy fucking hell! As a whole an even more diverse and balanced work than the previous full album of this collaboration "May Our Chambers Be Full", from whose sessions these recordings were left, "The Helm Of Sorrow" showcases the greatest strengths of both the singer / guitarist and the sludge metal band, while also featuring lead vocals by Emily McWilliams and an excellent cover version of "Hollywood" by The Cranberries. A mighty, rifftastic fuck yeah of an EP!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. ELECTRIC MOON - Phase
   
   
   
   Now for something a little bit longer, which is a 2 CD best of and more compilation of the German krautrockers Electric Moon. Filled with remastered versions of familiar studio album songs and more obscure cuts from EPs and samplers, as well as Beatles and Tangerine Dream cover versions, this lovingly packaged psychedelic must-have guarantees electric elevation, levitation and elation. Excuse me while I hug the orbit!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. LUCIFER - Gone With The Wind Is My Love
   
   
   
   I must admit that I haven't gotten the new Lucifer album yet, as I had planned to do that at a live show, to which I then ultimately didn't go. But it will surely come to me rather sooner than later. Until then I'll continue enjoying the duet of Johanna Platow Andersson with Blues Pills soul powerhouse Elin Larsson for the cover version of the doo-wop song "Gone With The Wind Is My Love" from Rita And The Tiaras. The B-side of this 7" is a great live version of "Cemetery Eyes" from "Lucifer III".
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. NOKTI - Cockschmerzen
   
   
   
   Gestatten Sie, this is Nokti from Croatia! With six tracks in fourteen minutes their CD "Cockschmerzen" (which is a german/english wordplay on two different kinds of headache) scratches a similar itch as Dead Neanderthal's "Rat Licker", yet it uses not only avant-garde jazz noise, but also brings to minds a multitude of further references, among which Oranssi Pazuzu and The Mars Volta are only two of the most obvious. Excellent brainfuckery.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. HIERONYMUS DREAM - Clairvoyance
   
   
   
   Ok, so strictly speaking this may not be a 2021 release, but fuck this shit, the Weird Beard tape came out this year, boosted with a bonus track of thirteen minutes. And this is just too good to fall by the wayside!
   As soon as I heard the warm and crystal clear sound of the Greek instrumental band, I immediately knew that I had to get my hands on this flawless floydish krautrock EP. Its combination of constant drive and flittering space guitars is just too darn addictive.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. ZOMBI - Liquid Crystal
   
   
   
   The master synthwave rock duo at work again. Even though the creative approach of this EP isn't too far from Zombi's previous album "2020" and also brings a lot of guitar into the established mix of 80's space and horror synths with bass and spectacular drumming, I enjoy "Liquid Crystal" quite a lot more. The fitting artwork helps too, but first and foremost these five tracks just gather the strengths of the Pennsylvanian group in the best possible way. This feels fresh, vivid, adventurous.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

The last part of of MUSIC 2021, being the main dish of the TOP 21 studio albums, will probably take me a bit longer and follow in a couple of weeks!

MUSIC 2021: TOP 7 live shows

MUSIC 2021: TOP 7 live albums

MUSIC 2021: TOP 7 non-album releases

MUSIC 2021: TOP 21 albums

recently repressed feat. CAUSA SUI, HILLS, CARPENTER BRUT and EMMA RUTH RUNDLE & THOU

Here's some stuff which I slept on or missed for other reasons last year (and in one case before), but which luckily got new pressings in 2021.

CAUSA SUI - Szabodelico (transparent red 2LP) (2020/2021) 

With a gatefold cover design looking like the detail of a 70's wallpaper with a lava lamp pattern in the colour scheme of my Ikea bed linen, last year's new Causa Sui double album set all signs on relaxation. The Danish instrumental psychedelic masters not only abstain from stoner rock heaviness, but for the most part also forego space trips and also their typical miles davis-infused jazziness.

Instead the main inspiration here is obvious from the song titles alone, which feature "Gabor's Path" and of course the title track "Szabodelico", both pointing towards the album being an homage to the Hungarian jazz guitarist Gábor Szabó, who mixed his European heritage with so much Latin feeling, that even Santana borrowed from him.
The dreamy levitating psych part Causa Sui still injects into these thirteen tracks is within their own discography probably most reminscent of their 2013 album "Euporie Tide".

"Szabodelico" definitely one my most chill contemporary purchases in recent memory. An album made for summer - or to invoke it. Wonderful stuff.
The 2021 repress comes in a slightly transparent red and with an obi strip. One more very beautiful El Paraiso Records release.

elparaisorecords · Causa Sui: "Szabodelico"

HILLS - Frid (blue vinyl LP) (2015/2021)

Of course this modern psych classic has been on my radar for a long time, since their spellbinding Roadburn appearance in... 2016 (already? Damn, how time flies.), which has also been captured on a live album.

Rocket Recordings keep repressing Hills' "Frid" in always new colours. And if you judge from what goes well with the gatefold artwork there are luckily endless variations still possible. The simple light blue one i got may not be the most spectacular version of all, but at least I got it without the usually quite high import shipping costs.

The music on "Frid" is repetive and hypnotic, very 60's/70's like, space, high, orientalisms and all. Honestly Hills have always been one of those psych bands, which I can barely write anything clever or insightful about. There's not much to explain about this record. It's just amazingly fucking good!

CARPENTER BRUT - Blood Machines OST (LP) (2020/2021)

I've already written a review for the digital version of this synthwave soundtrack over a year ago, yet somehow I totally missed the vinyl release, just as I still haven't seen the space opera movie itself yet. But then... where the hell can I even watch it? I'd really love to.

Carpenter Brut on vinyl is always an awesome, superbly produced experience, and this mixture of creeping horror score and Brut's typical danceable power sound is no exception from this rule. The repress is just black and doesn't come in a gatefold like the fancy first edition, but the artwork still slays.

Addictive!

EMMA RUTH RUNDLE & THOU - May Our Chambers Be Full (dark purple vinyl LP) (2020/2021)

So, this one... Yeah, I had ordered the first special edition and my retailer just didn't get enough copies. So I I waited for the next colour version and shortened the waiting time with the album's sister EP "The Helm Of Sorrow".

Since the EP was recorded during the same sessions - and all that stuff had been developed for the commissioned live premiere at Roadburn 2019, which I attended, the whole sound and most of the seven songs on "May Our Chambers Be Full" were already more or less familiar to me.

Most of the time this sounds like Emma Ruth Rundle is performing either solo just with her guitar (or with her own band), but a giant sludgy monstrosity is engulfing and trying to suffocate her, laying tons of riffs right on her licks and screeching pustules on her voice.

It almost seems like ERR and Thou are in an ongoing battle with shifting front lines, often oppressive and beautiful at the same time. The hands-down best moment of the album though is the nine minutes long finale "The Valley", in which Emma clearly prevails for most of the time, and even when Thou throw in all their doom and brutality, they do so fully at her will.

This album may not be the easiest listen - probably harder than the EP with it's more diverse song selection -, but it quickly grows on you, if you let it. A unique marriage of larger than life heaviness and haunting melancholic gloom.

EMMA RUTH RUNDLE & THOU - The Helm Of Sorrow

Most reviewers will obviously compare this collaborative EP of Thou and Emma Ruth Rundle with their previous full-length record "May Our Chambers Be Full". It's from the same sessions and the first limited special edition already featured the EP as an appendix.

Well, the thing with me is...
that I had ordered a copy on violet vinyl of said LP, but the retailer didn't receive enough items, so my order got canceled and I was a little sore and didn't buy the standard black version instead. I've pre-ordered a new coloured pressing now, but that will only arrive in a couple of months. And since I'm trying to develop a habit of not listening to albums to death online before I receive the actual physical copy, I'm really not familiar with the album yet.

I know that it probably is a strong album of the year 2020 contender though, because I'm a) not blind and have read stuff in the internet and I'm b) not deaf (yet) and have seen their joint performance at Roadburn Festival 2019, which was the whole cause for this liaison in the first place.

EMMA RUTH RUNDLE & THOU - The Helm Of Sorrow (12" EP) (2021)

With the disclaimer above it's clear that I can't really tell if the creative shares of the artists are distributed in the same way as on the album, but what is obvious on first listen is that the experimental slude/doom band is not collaborating just with the singer Emma Ruth Rundle, but with the whole package of guitarist, songwriter and singer.

"Orphan Limbs", the first track of the twenty minute EP, starts very quiet and reduced, centered around her typical guitar tone and surprisingly not her lead vocals, but those of Emily McWilliams, who has been a long-time member of the extended Thou family for a long time. (front left singer on this NPR music tiny desk concert)
Only in the last quarter of the song, when the volume is turned up and the shrill shrieks of Bryan Funck embody pure bestial anxiety, it is confirmed that the rest of this record will presumedly feature some super thick and heavy shit.

Further proof comes in exhibit B, "Crone Dance", where Funck and Emma Ruth Rundle share vocals equally. Technically it's inevitable that the comparison to Cult Of Luna and Julie Christmas comes to mind, even though the vibe of the tracks reminds me more of Subrosa and a version of My Dying Bride with multiplied gravity and bleakness. That final riff is so bad-ass heavy, you can bury a black whole under it.

"Recurrence" is the second track which sees ERR only on a bit of background vocal duty, while her dark melancholic guitar mixes with the sludgiest riff work, over which - almost a little too repetitive - Funck screeches out his entrails again.


Most reviewers will obviously compare the final track "Hollywood" with its original version from The Cranberries.

Well, the thing with me is...
I didn't really care neither for the band nor the scene or genre in the Nineties and I'm not even sure if I have ever heard the song before or if it just sounds loosely familiar because of its vocal phrasing similarities to "Zombie".

I know that this interpretation is pretty awesome though. Not only works the intensity of Thou extremely good with dark 90s alternative rock vibe (which along with a certain grunge influence seems to be a theme throughout the whole EP), but this is also where Emma's breathy voice shines the most.
Just as her famous 2 Minutes To Late Night cover of Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill" she also absolutely nails this stylistically very different performance.


All in all this is one of those short records you can easily listen to on a loop.

Despite their generally interesting promise I somehow couldn't really find myself in the mood to explore Thou beyond that one show and the occasional clip here and there until now, so I clearly came into this as a fan of Emma Ruth Rundle, and I'm glad that this killer EPs has now properly introduced me to the band.

Will surely be continued when the full-length finally arrives here.